Mindy Tarlow is the executive director and chief executive officer of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), whose headquarters is in New York City. In February, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the nonprofit research organization MDRC published a report on a three-year evaluation of CEO, including a benefit-cost analysis* conducted by the Vera Institute of Justice’s Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit.

Keri Salerno focuses on prisoner reintegration with the Public Safety Office, City of Philadelphia.

When assessing criminal justice costs, it is important to consider not only the costs of incarceration, but the financial benefits to the public sector of successfully reintegrating formerly incarcerated people. For this reason—and with the help of local philanthropists—the City of Philadelphia’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety partnered with the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia.

A new MDRC report shows that the benefits of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), an employment program for formerly incarcerated people, outweigh the costs. Recidivism rates among program participants decreased by as much as 26 percent and the study’s cost-benefit analysis showed that financial benefits for taxpayers, victims, and participants exceed the costs.